Category: Monday Sparks

Write a Haiku about August

Writing prompt for haiku

This month on JPC Allen Writes, I’m covering aspects of writing that didn’t fit neatly in the previous monthly themes. The posts will be a hodge-podge and so will my Monday Sparks. I’ll be posting whatever writing prompts come to mind. First up, write a haiku about August. I love haikus, falling for them when I was in sixth grade. Haikus usually involve nature, but write about any part of August you want.

Sun, dust, bugs, sweat, grime–

Summer’s losing its appeal,

But do I want school?

Here are more writing prompts for haikus.

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How to Write Unforgettable Last Lines for a Novel (And Why It Matters)

How to write the ending of a novel

After spending months or years crafting the novel of your dreams, you don’t want to undo all that hard work with a poor last scene or last lines that vanish from readers’ memories. These final components of your novel are just as important as your opening lines and chapter. So here’s how to write unforgettable last lines for a novel and why it matters.

Why do the last lines matter so much?

The last scene and lines of your novel are your last message to your readers. We writers want our stories to stick with our readers. We gift them these final parts of the novel as a reward for reaching the last page. The last lines should also encourage readers to look up our previous novels and look forward to our future ones.

3 tips for writing unforgettable last lines

Your final scene and lines are like the final arguments lawyers present to a jury. They can’t introduce new evidence. That part of the trial is over. They can only sum up what the jury has already heard, but they can put their own spin on that evidence. That’s what writers do in the last scene.

  1. Echo the major plot, relationship, or theme you set up earlier in the book. The final scene must deal with the point or purpose of the novel. All subplots should have been wrapped up by now. The final scene and lines should round off and amplify what your novel has been about. In my second novel, A Storm of Doubts, Rae wrestles with doubts that she may be calling the wrong man Dad as she tries to solve a mystery that involves questions of paternity concerning a family friend. The final scene and lines wrap up this theme of fathers and family.
  2. Set the mood you want to leave with your readers. When readers close your book, what mood do you want to linger with them? I want my readers to feel like they’ve had a satisfying meal, and the last lines are those last bites of an excellent desert. To give them this feeling, I end on an upbeat note that fits with solving a mystery that revolves around the strength of faith and family. This upbeat note must be earned and make sense with the story that’s preceded it. If my amateur sleuth’s best friend has betrayed her during the course of the mystery, then my upbeat note will be very different from the one I’d use if her friend has saved her life during the climax.
  3. Use final lines that let readers think over the novel. If your final lines do a great job of summing up your novel, it should give reader points that linger in their mind. In A Storm of Doubts, the final lines will make readers consider the nature of fatherhood, aspects like what makes a good father.

What’s your opinion on what makes unforgettable last lines for a novel?

Here are all the tips and prompts this month on writing endings for novels.

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Write the Last Lines of a Less Than Happy Ending

Most readers prefer happy endings. I do. But I don’t mind less than happy endings or sad ones if the story earns those endings. The sad or tragic endings that readers object to are the ones that feel like the writer sat down to her computer and said, “I’ve had happy endings for my last three books. This one, everybody dies.” Those are the endings that feel forced, that don’t feel like the tragic events follow naturally through the story. So my writing prompt today is to write the last lines of a less than happy ending based on this character.

Her expression arrested my attention when I discovered this photo four years ago because it can be interpreted in so many ways. Here’s what I wrote four years ago for a less than happy ending.

*****

Amy, Rachel, and I descended the steps of the police station. I zipped my coat as a sudden gust tore down the street.

“It’s all over,” Rachel sighed.

At the bottom step, I said to Amy, “I’m glad I had the chance to help you, no matter what happened, to prove how sorry I am.”

Amy had been gazing down the street as fat flakes collected on her hair. Now her head swiveled to me, and I knew that stare. I’d seen it since we were kids.

“What makes you think you’ve proven anything?” she said in that ice-cold tone that sunk into me better than fangs.

“He nearly died saving you,” Rachel shouted. “If that doesn’t prove it, nothing will.” She blinked. “That’s the truth, isn’t it? Jake can’t reconcile with you because you won’t let him. Not because he doesn’t want to.”

That was the truth. All these years, I had thought I hadn’t tried hard enough to make up for the way I treated Amy, and it really came down to Amy didn’t want to forgive me. She liked wielding the power of unforgiveness.

I drug in a deep breath of frigid air, shoving my hands deep in the pockets of my coat. “If you ever want to act like a real sister, Amy, I’ll be ready.” I headed down the sidewalk, Rachel falling in step beside me.

“You were never a real brother to me.” Amy’s quiet voice sliced through the snowflakes.

I stopped. “Not when we were kids. But I am now.” 

“You got that right,” said Rachel, giving me a tired smile.

We turned the corner at the end of the block, and I didn’t look back.

*****

Let me know how you would use this character in a less than happy ending.

Here are more writing prompts for endings.

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Write the Last Lines for this Scene

How to write endings for novels

My writing prompt for today is imagining this scene as the last one in a novel. You pick the genre and then write the last lines for this scene in the comments.

My genre is thriller.

*****

Only three days after Ferrick was finally caught, and we’re back on the same corner, watching people go by–probably the same people my brother and I watched two weeks ago.

I glance at Eric.

He gives me a nod with a faint smile, and I nod back.

Right now, no place we’d rather be.

No.

Right now, no one we’d rather be with.

*****

Here are more writing prompts about endings for a story.

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Best Last Lines from Stories

Books with the best endings

Readers often talk about favorite opening lines, but what about best last lines from stories? Of course it’s often hard to share a favorite last line because it may give away the ending. Since this month on JPC Allen Writes I’m discussing endings, here are a few of my favorite last lines.

The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell

This short story is one of the best ever written from the opening to the final lines. Rainsford has survived being hunted by mad General Zaroff on his private Carribean island by faking his death. He sneaks back into the general’s mansion and surprises him.

*****

The general sucked in his breath and smiled. “I congratulate you,” he said. “You have won the game.”

Rainsford did not smile.”I am still a beast at bay,” he said, in a low, hoarse voice. “Get ready, General Zaroff.”

The general made one of his deepest bows. “I see,” he said. “Splendid! One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in his very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford …”

He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided.

*****

Murder in Three Acts by Agatha Christie

Master detective Hercule Poirot unmasks a tripe murderer and explains that the first murder was merely a rehearsal for the second one. The killer didn’t care who got the poisoned cocktail. He just wanted to test the method he’d worked out for the man he needed to kill.

After the killer is taken away, it takes a few moments for his scheme to fully hit Mr. Satterwhite, who has accompanied Poirot in his investigation like a Watson.

*****

Satterthwaite said slowly: “I could have drunk that cocktail…”


Poirot answered gravely: “There was an even more terrible possibility… It might have been me.”

*****

That quote sums up Poirot so well, a detective whose ego is only surpassed by his brain.

Black Orchids by Rex Stout

This book contains two novellas featuring the eccentric private detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin. The first, “Black Orchids”, relates how Wolfe acquires the unique flower during the course of an investigation. The second, “Cordially Invited to Meet Death”, has two mysteries. The main one concerns solving the murder of a client. The other is why Wolfe sent eight blooms from the rare black orchid plant to the funeral with the card “N.W.” He hadn’t told Archie was sending anything, and it’s completely out of character for the egocentric Wolfe.

After the murder is solved, Archie is still wondering about the orchids at the funeral. He has a few theories–Wolfe sent them to pester Archie because he knew Archie would go to the funeral and notice the flowers. Wolfe had a past with the client that Archie knows nothing about. Wolfe was paying a debt because he suspected the client was in danger and bungled it. Archie thinks the last theory is the most likely.

*****

But Archie writes:

But it’s still a mystery, and when he [Wolfe] catches me looking at him a certain way he knows darned well what’s on my mind.

*****

You don’t have to quote the last lines and possibly ruin the story, but what stories or novels do you think have the best last lines?

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